Man Pleads Guilty To Misdmeanor In Viral Bridgeport Attack
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A teen charged in a 2012 Bridgeport beating that went viral after it was videotaped and posted on YouTube pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery Monday.
Raymond Palomino was one of seven teens charged in connection with the Jan. 15, 2012, attack and the only one charged as an adult, the Sun-Times reported previously.
Palomino, then 17, was initially charged with felony counts of robbery and aggravated battery for the attack in the 2800 block of South Princeton Avenue, behind James Ward Elementary School.
Palomino, now 19, pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor battery Monday, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Stephen Campbell. Judge Joseph Kazmierski sentenced him to the 364 days he has already served in the Cook County Jail
Authorities had claimed a 15-year-old girl lured the victim to the Bridgeport alley, where a group of teens dragged, beat and robbed the teen while one of them recorded the attack on a cell phone.
At a bond hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti claimed Palomino removed a shoe from the victim's backpack while the teen was in a chokehold, and used it to hit him repeatedly in the face, the Sun-Times reported.
The attack only ended when teens saw an adult nearby, Antonietti said. The victim suffered a swollen and bloody nose, cuts to his lips and bruising to his eyes, ribs and other parts of his body.
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said the attack stemmed from a fight that October between the teens and the victim and his friends.
Palomino's father, a Cook County Sheriff's deputy, turned him into police after learning about the video, but disputed the prosecution's claims that his son initiated the fight.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)